Waiting for new hardware?

I'm thinking of getting a new laptop. Is there anything I should be aware of that is coming out in the near-near future (next month or so). Basically something that would make my 1k budget on the laptop get me more bang for the buck as parts get cheaper?

 

Nothing huge is really coming out in the next month or so. If you were to wait till next year you may be able to get a windows PC with light peak which is said to be coming to windows machines sometime in 2012. other than that the only thing I can see coming up is new processors (a while away) If you plan to upgrade to an SSD at all I would strongly recommend you find a notebook which is SATA 3 compatible.

 

Yea, so you don't think I'll regret getting a 1k machine now; in say 3-4 month?

 

lets put it this way....most user complaints AREN'T that their cpu is too slow. its that the screen is bad, the chassis feels cheap, and the battery life is too low.

shop according to those complaints and for price. also, get an ssd - pretty much the only computer purchase an average user will need(not really, but its highly recommended)

 

I really don't have the money for SSD atm. But in case I want to upgrade later, what do i look for? Sata3?

 

If you think you ever will upgrade to an SSD you should see that the chipset supports SATA3 as a SATA2 SSD will give you ~250MB/s speeds while the SATA3 SSDs top out at ~550MB/s for close to the same price.

like Generic User #2 said, you should not have any issues with lack of cpu power and should dhop for your computer based on major things you will notice like build quality and screen.

 

One month vs. 3-4 month time frame is quite a difference.

I would guess that in one month you could regret missing out on any Xmas/New Years deals while in 3-4 months you could regret not waiting another few weeks for the 2012 models to be introduced and actually available for purchase.

It doesn't really sound like you need to buy a system right now: I suggest waiting until your 'want' becomes a real 'need'.

Good luck.

 

One month or 3-4 months won't make a difference....nothing sporting new hardware will be available for purchase in that time frame. Ivy Bridge has been pushed back to March/April, Trinity might be the same but could be a month or two behind, AMD will have mobile 7000M launched at CES as usual but buying notebooks won't start until a month or two later, and Nvidia might be another month or more behind them with the 600M series unless they're planning another set of rebrands of the 400M.

There could be a respin of Llano due out in Q4 but that'll only be a small clock increase, and Clevo's monster 17" will get a Sandy Bridge-E desktop CPU (that won't cost under a grand though )....otherwise I wouldn't expect notebooks with new hardware on the shelves for another 5-7 months.

 

You won't really find anything interesting if you wait a month.
Hardware-wise, you also won't regret buying a 1k machine now even when IB comes out (raw performance-wise, we are looking at roughly 15% to 20% speed differential).
If you want/need lightpeak though, then wait for IB.

For the moment, I see no need to buy a new laptop.
I still hadn't upgraded my cpu in the current one along with ram (desired cpu is quad Q9100 and 8GB RAM - both of which should provide twice the jump in performance in 3dsMax - and also bump up some minimum FPS most likely).
That can hold me easily until IB comes out, or perhaps even Haswell if necessary.

IB will supposedly feature a 60% increase in speed when it comes to the integrated GPU, so that and Lightpeak might be reasons enough for you to wait.
Though, current SB grade hardware is no slouch.